"Photos and videos are becoming more central in what we share than the text", said Facebook founder and chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg, who offered his take on the future of the social network at its annual developers conference in San Jose, Calif.

There, he also expanded on the ambitious ten-year master plan that Facebook unveiled previous year, of which a major component was developing a viable augmented and virtual reality business.

Augmented reality tools unveiled by Facebook were impressive, but unlikely to reach the hands of users soon, according to Jackdaw Research analyst Jan Dawson.

"We're offering a suite of creative tools to give our community of artists and developers the power to create a full spectrum of effects for the new Facebook camera, from simple photo frames to interactive effects and masks using the latest in augmented reality technologies", says Facebook. One day, the FacebookCEO envisions selling stylish and lightweight glasses that overlay images onto the physical world.

Mark Zuckerberg debuted "Facebook's Second Act" on Tuesday, which involves creating an "augmented reality" where users can turn their everyday life into Facebook. This would be a more advanced kind of augmented reality than what is portrayed in the trendy gamePokémon Go. "Think about how numerous things you use [that] don't actually need to be physical", Zuckerberg told Recode in an interview where he outlined his broader AR vision, which includes AR glasses.

Previously, Facebook had been focused strongly on virtual reality as the next big computing platform, particularly using Rift headgear made by its Oculus unit.

Facebook-and tech journalism-seems to have missed the irony of building an application that allows people to interact in ways they used to before Facebook was invented. "So it's not one or the other, you can actually mix these two together. You can draw in the air with a virtual marker to create anything you can dream up, from a decorative hat to a handmade tic-tac-toe board". "It could take ten years or even longer", to get the technology just right for extended daily use, Abrash cautioned.

"You want to watch TV, we can put a digital TV on that wall and instead of being a piece of hardware, it's a US$1 app instead of a US$500 piece of equipment", he said. For example, a new Discover tab on the Facebook Messenger platform will make it easier for users to find particular bots out of the many that are available, or scan Messenger Codes with their cameras to access information and offerings from particular businesses.

follow

editors' picks

April 20, 2017UK parliament votes in favor of early national election
The news broke in the London's Evening Standard newspaper, where Osborne is about to take on a new job as the paper's editor. A United Kingdom general election will be held on 8 June after MPs backed Prime Minister Theresa May's call for a snap poll.

April 20, 2017Patriots sign Super Bowl hero Butler, may trade him
With Butler's recent impressive performances, he is due to a significant salary increase, which the Patriots can no longer afford. The New England Patriots took care of their two most recent Super Bowl heroes on Tuesday.

April 19, 2017Death toll in Sri Lanka garbage mound collapse rises to 27
Relief operations are carried out under the supervision of Security Forces Commander (West) Major General Sudantha Ranasinghe. From time to time, people have barricaded roads, set fire to things, spoken to politicians, conducted sit-down protests.

April 18, 2017Westbrook, Harden Friendship on Hold During Series
In Houston's spread floor offense, Harden has carte blanche, room to create, to paint the ideal scoring picture. This game, with the game-winning shot and all, may have earned him his first Most Valuable Player award.

April 17, 2017Monte Carlo Masters 2017
Murray's place at the Monte Carlo Country Club was confirmed after he was entered into the draw for this year's competition . Rafael Nadal's bid to his tenth title in the Masters 1000 of Monte Carlo won't be easy.

April 17, 2017Kendrick Lamar drops latest album today
The album features collaborations with U2, Zacari and Rihanna. "It's not uber political like TPAB [ To Pimp A Butterfly ] but it has energy IMO".

April 15, 2017Will he or won't he? Nurkic's return still uncertain
The Golden State Warriors are averaging 115.9 points on 49.5 percent shooting and allowing 104.3 points on 43.5 percent shooting. Portland went 0-4 against the Warriors this season, although the last game in January was just a two-point Golden State win.